Food of the world: a journey for food lovers

About a month ago or so I read this great book, Julie and Julia: My year of cooking dangerously, a book about a woman who started cooking all the recipes from a cookbook by Julia Child - "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Julie had a boring job and lived in a tiny appartment in New York, but one day she started cooking something from that abovementioned cookbook, and got herself into challenge of cooking all the 524 recipes in just one year - 365 days. She has also decided to write about her experiences in a blog.

There is another fun idea, not very original though - cooking all the recipes from a cook book. I have this huge book - "The food of the world: a journey for food lovers" which I love a lot and not only for great (and simple) recipes, amazing pictures, but also for the stories behind almost each of the dishes.

King prawn risotto

Soupe de fruits de mer Manhattan

60 g butter
3 slices smoked ham
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
2 celery sticks
3 potatoes
1 l fish or chicken stock
3 tbsp. fresh thyme
12 king prawns
425 g canned chopped tomatoes
375 g fish fillet
2 tbsp chopped parsley
lemon rind for serving

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add chopped ham, onions, garlic and sliced celery. Fry a bit constantly stirring. Add peeled and sliced potatoes, pour in the stock and add thyme. Boil on medium heat for about 15 min. Then add tomatoes, prawns, fish and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Season to taste and add parsley. Decorate with lemon rind.